Upon the trial (no inconsistent contention having been entered
in the police court) the prisoner's counsel introduced six
separate defences, to wit: That the prescription had been
properly filled with calomel and that the child had died from
natural causes, the following being suggested.

1. Acute gastritis.

2. Acute nephritis.

3. Cerebro-spinal meningitis.

4. Fulminating meningitis.

5. That the child had died of apomorphine, a totally distinct
poison.

6. That it had received and taken calomel, but that, having
eaten a small piece of pickle shortly before, the conjunction
of the vegetable acid with the calomel had formed, in the
child's stomach, a precipitate of corrosive sublimate, from
which it had died.

These were all argued with great learning. During the trial
the box containing the balance of the pills, which the defence
contended were calomel, unexpectedly turned up. It has always
been one of the greatest regrets of the writer's life that he
did not then and there challenge the defendant to eat one of
the pills and thus prove the good faith of his defence.